County Durham (traditional)

County Durham
Demographics
Population:	493,470 (2001)
Ethnicity:	99% white
Geography
Region:	North East England
Districts
Durham Easington Sedgefield Teesdale Wear Valley Derwentside Chester-le-Street

County Durham is a county in north-east England, with an area of 558,000 acres (about 223,260 hectares or 870 square miles) and an estimated population (November 2002) of 486,000.

The form of the county name is unique in England. Many counties are named after their principal town, but the expected form here would be 'Durhamshire'. The reason it is called Durham instead is that the Prince-Bishops of Durham historically exercised power in regions outside the county as well, so the inner part was named County Durham as opposed to the rest of the estate of Durham. (But the form "County X" is standard for Irish counties, with no such significance.)

The county traditionally extends to the south bank of the river Tyne and included the cities of Sunderland and Gateshead. It bordered the Counties of Cumberland,Northumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire. The east of the county between Ryhope, Sunderland and Seaton Carew, Hartlepool is the coastline of the North Sea. The county town is Durham. It had several exclaves, including Bedlingtonshire, Norham, Islandshire (incorporated into Northumberland in the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844), and Crayke, now in North Yorkshire.

Geographically, Durham is roughly bounded by the watershed of the Pennines in the west, the River Tees in the south, the North Sea in the east and the River Tyne/River Derwent in the north.

Durham County Council was established along with all the other English county councils in 1888. Major local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974 created the metropolitan boroughs of Sunderland, South Tyneside and Gateshead out of County Durham into the newly established county of Tyne and Wear. At the same time, the new county of Cleveland took out Stockton on Tees and Hartlepool. County Durham did however gain the rural district of Startforth south of the River Tees near to Barnard Castle. Since then, Cleveland has been abolished, but Stockton and Hartlepool have not been returned to Durham, except for the purposes of Lord-Lieutanancy.

The county is divided into seven local government districts, they are:

• Derwentside with major towns of Consett, Stanley and Anfield Plain.
• Chester-le-Street, which also includes Sacriston.
• The City of Durham
• Easington, which includes the new town of Peterlee.
• Sedgefield, which also includes Spennymoor.
• Wear Valley, with major towns of Crook, Bishop Auckland and Willington, plus the villages along Weardale (the upper valley of the River Wear.
• Teesdale, with the major town of Barnard Castle and the villages of Teesdale, the upper valley of the River Tees.

On 1 April 1997, the town of Darlington with its population of 100,000 became a unitary authority and thus separate from County Durham although its postal address remains County Durham. It also shares a police and fire service with the county.

Towns and villages

• Annfield Plain
• Barnard Castle, Bishop Auckland, Bowburn, Brandon, County Durham
• Chester-le-Street, Consett, Copley, County Durham, Coxhoe Crook
• Durham
• Easington, Esh Winning
• Frosterley
• Gainford
• Lanchester, Langley Park
• Middleton-in-Teesdale, Morley, County Durham
• Newton Aycliffe
• Peterlee
• Sacriston, Sedgefield, Shildon, Spennymoor, Stanhope, Stanley, Sunderland
• Tanfield
• Ushaw Moor
• Willington, Wolsingham

Places of interest

• Durham Cathedral, a World Heritage Site
• Beamish Museum
• The Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle
• High Force waterfall

External Websites

• Durham County Council
• Chester-le-Street District Council
• Derwentside District Council
• Durham City Council
• District of Easington
• Sedgefield Borough Council
• Teesdale District Council
• Wear Valley District Council